Protein powders, energy mixes, supplements, and other sports nutritional products, are frequently utilized in conjunction with regular exercise to promote a healthy lifestyle. Accordingly, consumers often purchase large containers or bulk quantities of their favorite nutritional powders or mixes, wherein many such powders or drink mixes must be combined with water or other suitable liquids to facilitate ingestion and digestion of same. However, despite the economical advantages and general long-term product supply afforded by such bulk purchases, the impracticalities and inconveniencies associated with the use of such large containers of powders or mixes, in view of preferred consumer use, present noticeable disadvantages.
Specifically, many individuals utilize public gyms or fitness centers, wherein immediately following an exercise session, many such individuals prefer to ingest a favorite powdered sports drink for optimal bodily absorption. Accordingly, these individuals are often forced to inconveniently tote the large containers of powder to their fitness center for subsequent use, or pre-bag or pre-package smaller portions thereof prior to leaving home.
Additionally, because such powders must be combined with a liquid, consumers must undertake the time-consuming and often messy process of properly combining and mixing the powder with a glass or bottle of water. That is, when utilizing a glass, or other wide-mouthed container, of water, the consumer must measure and deposit the appropriate amount of sports powder within the glass and, thereafter, shake, stir or otherwise fully mix the combined dry and liquid contents. In doing so, powder and/or powder-liquid mix often spills from the wide mouth of the glass, resulting not only in mess and partial loss of product, but a potentially significant reduction in the manufacturer's recommended serving size. This latter disadvantage becomes particularly problematic when the consumer has painstakingly pre-measured and bagged or packed a limited amount of sports powder for use at his/her fitness center, leaving the much larger container of sports powder at his/her residence.
To avoid the spillage problems associated with mixing powdered sports drinks in wide-mouthed containers of water, many consumers will utilize a conventional personal-sized bottle of water, which typically have a relatively diametrically smaller mouth. In use, the bottle cap is treadably engaged to the bottle mouth following deposit of the sports powder therethrough; thus, enabling rapid and forcefully shaking and uniform mixture of the powder-water contents of the bottle, without risk of leakage or spillage of same. However, in utilizing such water bottles alone, consumers must attempt to feed or funnel the powder through the relatively narrow mouth of the bottle, which, more often than not, results in spillage of the sports powder.
As such, in an attempt to overcome the disadvantages associated with the foregoing system of powdered sports drink preparation, many available devices provide for a mixing cap engageable to a liquid container, wherein the mixing cap enables introduction of a dry or liquid ingredient into the communicating bottle for mixture with the liquid contents thereof. Examples of such devices may be seen with reference to U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0200742A1 to Cho; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0200740A1 to Cho; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0072850 A1 to Burniski; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0090426 A1 to Denny; U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,329 B1 to Nohren, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,270 B1 to Denny; U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,416 B1 to Nohren, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,296 to Shih; U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,141 to Gibler; U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,802 to Caola; U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,328 to Baron et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,445 to Kaesemeyer. However, the foregoing references teach devices possessing structural and functional features and limitations, which, in addition to being unnecessarily complex, render use of the device largely inconvenient.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,141 to Gibler (Gibler '141) discloses a beverage storage and mixing device comprising a cap assembly attached to a conventional drink bottle, wherein the cap assembly comprises an inner cylindrical housing rotatably nested within an outer cylindrical housing. In use, apertures formed through the inner and outer housings must be properly aligned to effectively enable liquid contained within the cap to be dispensed into the communicating bottle. The cap assembly of Gibler '141 further requires the rupturing of a bottom wall for full introduction and mixing of the liquid from the cap assembly with the liquid contents of the communicating bottle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,328 to Baron et al. (Baron '328) teaches a baby bottle comprising a storage container for holding food material, wherein the storage container is adapted to fit between the tubular mouth of a baby bottle and a nipple-supporting end cap of the baby bottle. The bottle further comprises a release mechanism coupled to the mouth of the baby bottle for controlling access to the food material contained in the storage container body by water stored in the baby bottle. To operate the release mechanism, the nipple-supporting end cap is pulled upwards to dislodge a stopper from an aperture in the release mechanism, thereby enabling access to the food material by the water upon shaking the baby bottle. However, not only is the Baron '328 device structurally-limited to standard baby bottles, which traditionally have wide mouths, the device would not effectively prevent spillage or spray of the food material and water from the nipple of the end cap during the shaking process; thus, resulting in mess and, even with use of a nipple cover or cap, partial loss of product.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0200740 to Cho (Cho '740) discloses a cap device and bottle, whereupon rotating the cap device relative to the bottle enables mixing of an additive contained within the cap with a material contained within the communicating bottle. That is, a valve unit is threadably-engaged with an additive-containing unit, wherein the valve unit is engaged, threadably or via frictional-fit, to the mouth of a bottle. Unthreading of the additive-containing unit from the valve unit disengages a stopper carried by the valve unit from an aperture formed in the additive-containing unit, thus enabling the additive to enter the communicating bottle. However, in addition to the inconvenience associated with the Cho '740 multi-step process of having to threadably engage the valve unit with the additive-containing unit, and then the valve unit with a bottle, and, thereafter, unthread the additive-containing unit from the valve unit to enable introduction of the additive to the bottle contents, the structural design of Cho '740 is further flawed, as the user may inadvertently completely unthread and remove the additive-containing unit from the valve unit and, thus, release or spill the additive therefrom. Even if not fully unthreaded, an insufficient number of engaged threads between the additive-containing unit and the valve unit will result in a weak seal or engagement and, thus, ineffectively prevent leakage of the additive-liquid mix from the cap device during the shaking and mixing process.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for a mixing cap and method for use thereof, wherein the mixing cap engages the mouth of a conventional personal-sized water bottle, or other liquid-containing bottle, and wherein simply depressing the mixing cap enables dry or liquid ingredients contained within the mixing cap (i.e., loaded during time of manufacture, or initial consumer use) to be expeditiously and conveniently deposited into the bottle, and whereupon shaking the bottle effectively intermixes the water or other liquid contents thereof with the added ingredient, without risk of spillage or leakage of the mixture therefrom.